The Opposite of Us

H o u s e m a t e s C h r i s t m a s

Heath's POV

'Twas two mornings before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. I quickly awoke, when a cry was heard. A smirk graced my face, knowing Ozzy had stirred.

I quickly grab a hoodie and lazily walk out of my room, pretending I don't know what just happened. Walking up the hallway towards the living room, Izzy pops out of her room and gives me a quizzical look. I try to hide the smugness beneath and give her my best 'I don't know' shrug.

When she sees what has happened, Izzy folds over in laughter, not sparing her brother's feelings. I chuckle and fold my arms as I survey the damage.

I had put Izzy's zombie head, Walker, right in front of Ozzy's face while he was sleeping overnight. Walker looks very smart with the Christmas bow I had given him. I am very lucky that when Ozzy sleeps, he is dead to the world till morning. Laying on the floor, Walker stares back up at Izzy. She picks him up and tucks the zombie head under her arm, patting him gently on the head.

"Nice touch", she says out the side of her mouth, intending it for my ears only. I can see the proud and smug smile on her face growing as she watches just how flustered her brother is getting.

Ozzy shoots daggers at me.

"Merry Christmas Ozzy", I say. "Don't you like your Christmas present?"

The curly-haired boy just grumbles, sulking and wrapping his blankets around himself.

"I thought this was a very thoughtful present", Izzy shares, her lips curled up at one side in amusement. "It has already made this the best housemates Christmas ever."

Ozzy cuts his eyes between us and decides to give up, hauling the blankets over his head and curling back up. He's pretending to sleep again. I just shake my head and walk into the kitchen for some breakfast. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Izzy sneaking closer to her brother. 

As I boil the kettle, I suddenly hear an outburst and I duck my head back around the corner to see Izzy attacking her brother and Ozzy trying to fight off her tickling hands.

"Who wants bacon and eggs for breakfast?" I ask, trying to dissolve the fighting on the couch before they're suddenly rolling around on the floor, which I know is coming next if they don't break apart.

Two dark, curly-haired heads appear above the back of the couch and they both look at me with puppy dog eyes. Ozzy raises his hand slightly while Izzy nods her head emphatically in tiny movements. I smirk to myself. Works every time.

——

The morning flies by quickly. We have more Brooklyn 99 on in the background while we're all running around trying to sneakily wrap presents for each other.

We're planning to have a Japanese feast for Housemates Christmas tonight because 'we know we'll all get roasts with our families' was Izzy's reasoning. I'm making a chicken katsu curry and gyoza. Izzy is making karaage beef while we've left Ozzy in charge of the sushi. Ozzy has already made all the sushi and Izzy is currently prepping the karaage, ready to be cooked later when I'll make the rest of the food, making sure it's nice and hot for dinner.

Ozzy and I are reminiscing about some of our old choreo, sitting on the couch doing vague arm movements but knowing exactly what the other is talking about.

"Yo, do you still remember the breakdown from Not A Kid?" I ask him. He nods and I get up from the couch, pulling him to his feet.

We keep eye contact as we do the moves, a challenge hanging between us to see who will stuff up first. It's so much easier to do the routine out of the crazy costumes they had us in. Ozzy is killing it, even though it's been so long since we performed it on Dance Mania. Of course, I kill it, but I may or may not practice old dances occasionally to see if I can make them better with new skills I've learnt.